Abraham Rabinovich

JERUSALEM—A retired Israeli general said over the weekend that Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the al Quds force, an arm Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, “plans from the end,” following the downing of an Israeli F-16.

Jerusalem’s Old City was a prize for Israel to dream about but too charged to reach out for. Although the Israel Defense Forces had drawers filled with contingency plans for virtually every conceivable target and circumstance in the Middle East, there was none in 1967 for the Old City, which was the closet target of all—literally a stone’s throw from the border dividing Jerusalem into two cities.

JERUSALEM—After two Israeli soldiers were attacked when they drove by accident into a West Bank refugee camp Monday night, the army ordered its Hannibal Procedure to be put into effect—namely to use massive fire, if necessary, to prevent soldiers being taken prisoner, even if it endangers the soldiers themselves.

JERUSALEM—An Egyptian lawmaker who upset his colleagues and much of the Egyptian public by inviting the Israeli ambassador in Cairo to dinner at his home last week was struck Sunday in Egypt’s parliament by a fellow parliamentarian with his shoe, an insult in Arab culture.

Jerusalem—The last of 500 West Bank Palestinians who had been employed by the beverage firm SodaStream were let go on Monday as a result of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement targeting Israeli economic activity in the West Bank.

JERUSALEM—Consigned to the diplomatic shadows in Cairo for the past two years as Israel’s ambassador to Egypt, Haim Koren splashed across the Egyptian media this week after an Egyptian parliamentarian invited him to dinner.

JERUSALEM—Iran on Wednesday stoked the current round of violence on the West Bank and Jerusalem by promising to pay the family of every Palestinian “martyr” $7,000 and to pay $30,000 for every home of a terrorist demolished by Israel.

JERUSALEM—The chief of Israeli military intelligence warned this week that despair in the Gaza Strip, where suicides have reached record levels, could lead to a renewed military confrontation with Israel.

JERUSALEM—Less than a week after Israel was reported to have rocketed Syrian army outposts in the Damascus area despite the Russian presence as defender of the Syrian regime, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said Monday that both Russia and the United States recognize Israel’s “freedom to act and to defend our interests” in Syria.